Chapter 7 of Chloe's Autobiography
by writer writing
Summary: Lois begins her career in journalism and she also meets Richard White. Told in the future from Chloe's point of view.
1. Chapter 1

This chapter is going to be different than the previous 6 chapters. I've gotten up to the point in my life when I was working as an intern at the Daily Planet. I'm going to stop now and dedicate a chapter to my cousin, Lois Lane and my best friend, Clark Kent and focus on what they were doing at this time. People always want to know more about them and so I'm going to give them a chapter from what I like to call the Smallville years. Lois was working for Martha Kent, as her chief of staff but around this time the journalism bug really bit her and I like to think that I'm partly responsible for giving the world one of its best reporters. This is also when she met Richard White, Perry White's nephew and I introduced them. He would later play a huge part in her life but that's another story for another chapter.

As I'm writing this on my laptop, I am sitting in Lois and Clark's apartment. I figured it would be easier than calling them up every 5 minutes to check facts. Clark is sitting in his recliner and reading a book on theories of the universe. However every few minutes, he glances up and I know he's reading what I've wrote by the look on his face. How is pretty obvious to the people that know him well. I glare at him, he blushes, and goes back to his book. Lois is less subtle about it. In fact, she's not even trying to be subtle about it. She restlessly shifts on the couch and then begins to pace the living room like a caged lioness. She works her way over to behind my shoulder and makes comments.

Getting back on track, I will write this chapter like the unbiased reporter that I am and when you see parenthesis that's my personal interjection. Here goes.

Lois was sitting at her desk late one night. She was working on a special project. (Lois is behind me now and she says it was the Jenson Bill. She was doing more research to see if Martha wanted to support this piece of gun legislation or not. I've thanked her for this piece of information but told her this isn't important to the story. That woman has a memory like an elephant. Lois has lightly smacked my head at this comment and walked off.)

It was about 2:30 a.m. and Clark came into the office.

(Obviously, their conversation will be roughly what was said, as no one can remember their exact words over half a century later.)

"Lois, are you still working?" Clark asked in disbelief.

"No, Smallville. I like to play in the office when everybody leaves. What are you doing here?"

"Your car's in the shop and I'm supposed to give you a ride home, remember?"

"It seems like I told you 2 hours ago to go home without me."

"I'd love to but Mom would kill me."

"She'll have to kill you then."

Lois' cell phone rang and she answered it.

"What do you want?"

(I won't bother to tell you my end of this phone conversation. It was me on the phone. I knew she was going to work her way into an early grave with work she hated to do. I was down the street at an Irish restaurant. Their food was to die for. I had dates for us and I wanted her to at least relax and have some fun, if she wouldn't go to bed. A year or two ago and this would have been reversed. I would be obsessed with a story for the Torch and Lois would be trying to get me to have some fun. Times and people change. That's your wisdom from an old person.)

"Chloe is that you? Are you okay?"

silence

"I don't have time for that."

silence

"Only this once. Bye, cuz. I love you too."

Lois stood up an told Clark, "I'm going out. You can go home. I'm spending time with Chloe."

Clark shook his head in frustration. He needed to learn some tricks from Chloe on how to persuade Lois to do what you say. He turned to go out the door.

"Hold on, farm boy." Lois took her hair down and tossed him her rubber band. "If I'm going to paint the town red, I have to get out of this stuffy business suit."

Clark was alarmed when Lois took off her pantyhose and tossed it to him. She was perfectly aware that she was making him uncomfortable.

"Don't look so worried," she said as handed him her jacket and untucked her shirt, "I'm not going to completely shed."

She gave him the key to her apartment and told him to take her stuff to her apartment. They left the office.

(I can picture Clark's embarrassment at carrying around women's clothing. He must be able to picture it too because he's blushing now. That's what he gets for reading it like this. Lois is behind me again. She remembers now that she never did get her pantyhose back. She's standing in front of Clark now demanding to know where her pantyhose went. Clark mumbles something and Lois shouts, "Lana? Lana has my pantyhose!"

"No, I ran into her in front of the Talon and we went into together and there was a hole in the roof. It was leaking into your apartment because it was raining that night. So Lana suggested stuffing the hole with pantyhose."

If I were Clark, I would be running now because Lois doesn't look happy.

"You mean my pantyhose is stuffed into the ceiling of my old apartment?"

"Somebody has probably taken it out and repaired it by now. I completely forgot about it until just now."

Lois slammed the door to their bedroom and Clark is knocking and begging to be let in.

I don't think Lois is mad about the pantyhose. She's mad that he let Lana into her apartment and listened to Lana's idea about the pantyhose. She'll get over it. Lois won't stay mad at him long.)

TBC 


	2. Chapter 2

Chloe was sitting at the table with the two men she had brought for dates. Lois' date was Richard White. His uncle was Perry White, a reporter who worked at the Daily Planet. Perry had been to Smallville before at a not so great time in his life. Anyway Chloe had met Richard through Perry. Her date was a Jimmy Olsen. He was a sweet kid but younger than Chloe. He was a copyboy. When Lois came through the door, Jimmy was rambling about how his dad's career affected his childhood. (I feel kind of guilty that I can't remember what his dad did for a living. What makes it worse is that though we never really hit it off in a romantic way, he became and still is very good friends with Lois and Clark. They worked together for years, so I should know this. I'm tempted to ask Lois and Clark what it was Jimmy's dad did but they haven't come back out. They're either fighting or apologizing and either way I wouldn't want to interrupt.)

Lois sat down at the table and Richard began a polite conversation with her, while Jimmy continued his talking with Chloe. However, Chloe wasn't listening to him because she was more interested in how her cousin was hitting things off with Richard.

(Lois and Clark have just come back out and they're cuddling. It doesn't surprise me. Their fights never last very long. You don't become an elderly couple without knowing how to make up. Although, they bicker in a playful manner more than anyone else I know. I ask them about the Jimmy thing and Lois says he was a military brat like her. His father was some sort of spy. I can get back to my story now.)

Richard was telling Lois how he went to school at Yale.

Lois looked bored to death, as she stirred her coffee. Richard saw this and attempted to perk her interest by telling her he could fly.

Lois looked up and with a sparkle in her eye asked, "like Peter Pan?"

Richard never cracked a grin, as he said, "no. I have a pilot's license."

Lois immediately became bored again. What was the fun in teasing somebody if they didn't know they were being teased?

Richard reached out and placed his hand over Lois'.

(I'm interrupted by a growl from Clark. He's spying on my story again. Lois doesn't need to look to guess what part of the story I'm at. She suggests going into the kitchen to get ice cream. They do and avoid another fight.)

"I'm hoping to get a job at the Daily Planet, when I get out of school. Although I'm exploring my options as a news broadcaster," Richard said.

Lois yawned and pulled her hand out from under Richard's. "It's getting late for me. I think I'm going to turn in."

"Can I drive you home?" Richard asks.

Lois's eyes widen, "no! That's okay. I don't live very far away."

Chloe gets a strange cough and Lois gives her an evil look like only Lois can give.

"Where do you live?" he asks picking up on the nonverbals.

"She lives in Smallville," Chloe says not wanting her to go back to work.

Chloe pushed her chair further back in expectation of Lois' kick.

Chloe's cell phone went off.

"Hello?"

"Miss Sullivan, I have a way for you to move up the reporter's ladder. Meet me in 30 minutes in front of the abandoned toy warehouse," said a raspy voice and then hung up.

(Of course, I wasn't going to say no to a potential story.) Chloe stood up and announced she had to go. Lois knew Chloe better than that and insisted she would accompany her where ever she was going. Their dates reminded them they were the ones with cars. So it looked like she was going to have 3 companions to the warehouse whether she wanted them there or not.

TBC 


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe, Lois, Jimmy, and Richard pulled up in front of the warehouse in the pouring rain. They had decided to take one car. It was a silver Mercedes, Richard's car. 

Lois took a look out the window and made a face. "It better not be raining in Smallville because I will have to kill Smallville if he gets my $60 jacket wet."

Richard and Jimmy were confused at this comment but Chloe understood and chuckled.

Richard turned to the back and asked Chloe, "are you sure this is the right warehouse?"

"It's the only abandoned toy warehouse around," Chloe replied. "I think I should go in alone or this mysterious stranger might not want to open up."

The 3 of them looked uneasy about this but knew she was right.

(Clark and Lois have come back out of the kitchen. Clark is returning to his book and Lois has begun her pacing again.)

Lois became increasingly uncomfortable about being in the car alone with Richard and Jimmy. They both kept looking at her and she was worried about Chloe.

"You know this mysterious stranger isn't going to be worried about another young girl creeping around. You two stay here and I'm going to go hide and keep an eye on Chloe and the stranger."

Lois left before they could protest. Chloe was inside the warehouse waiting. Lois figured it would be better to stay outside. She made her way to a broken window and crouched beneath it.

"Miss Sullivan?" asked the man, who came out from another part of the warehouse.

He looked old and dusty but he was only in his 30s. The lenses in his glasses were cracked and the frames were held together with tape. He was a creepy sight but certainly not a dangerous one.

"I'm Miss Sullivan. Who are you?"

"My name isn't important but my story is. I used to work at this warehouse before they shut the toy factory down. As you can tell from my appearance and home, I haven't done so well, since it closed down 2 years ago. I've been afraid of telling this secret. So many people who were involved with this have disappeared but I can't go on living with this secret not when it could hurt innocent children," he began to tear up.

"It's okay. Take a deep breathe."

He did and continued. " a shipment of teddie bears came in. ( Lois is interrupting me to say that teddie is spelled teddy. She says that she's the worse speller in the world but even she knew that. I politely thank her and remind her that I already have a spell checker for when I'm done.) It was a simple little teddy bear, cute but simple. One of them became torn and I found a strange looking rock in it. It was a combination of pale pink and blue. The others had them too but apparently nobody was supposed to know about it. The factory shut down soon after. I've been avoiding society ever since, hoping somebody doesn't try to make me disappear."

Chloe was visibly shaken by the rocks. They had to be some sort of new meteor rocks. "How many bears did they ship out?"

"Only a 100, I think."

"You have no idea what the rocks are for?"

"None."

"Any idea who was in charge of this rock operation?"

"No."

"I think you need police protection."

He adamantly shook his head and said, " I don't want to be anywhere else but here."

Nothing would change his mind. Chloe and Lois went back to the car and the 4 of them left. Lois looked so tired that they took her home first.

"Chloe, promise me you won't try anything dangerous without me," Lois said before getting out of the car.

"You say that you're only trying to protect me when you follow me on these stories but you know what I think, Lois Lane?"

"I don't want to know."

"I think you like chasing down stories. I know you eavesdropped even when you saw that he couldn't possibly be dangerous."

"You're delusional. You should get out of those wet clothes. Now promise me."

"I will not chase down this story without my trusty companion."

Lois went upstairs and took out her other key. She had loaned one to Clark. She opened the door and saw—

(I'm going to stop here and record a present day argument going on between Lois and Clark. It's not a serious one but they're always so fun to watch. Lois is sitting on the arm of Clark's recliner and peering at what he's reading. She snatched the book out of his hand and flips through the pages.

"Lois, what are you doing?" Clark patiently inquires.

"Seeing what kind of junk you're reading now. Chapter 1: Was the universe created or has it always been here? Pure malarkey." She reads other chapter titles out loud. "Chapter 4: Does the universe have a physical end or does it go on forever? The last chapter ends with is there really life on other planets?"

Clark is starting to look a little irritated but he has such a quiet strength and tons of patience. You'd have to if you were going to be married to Lois for over 40 years. Lois loves conflict. She purposely picks fights but Clark had learned since his teenage years that instead of trying to beat her at her own game, you have to smile and not take the bait. They crack me up.

"Lois, honey, what do you think I should be reading?" Clark asks.

"Read a newspaper. You spend too much time reading books," she answers.

"How about we go on a walk? Chloe is so distracted by us that she's writing what we're saying instead of working on the book."

Clark has peered at my writing again. They do need to take a walk. Lois smiles at me but agrees to the walk.

"We'll be back in a few minutes, Chloe, so I better see some progress," Lois said doing her Perry White imitation.

Now that they're gone, I better get back to where I left off.)

Lois opened her door and saw a dark figure standing in the back of the room. She laid her purse down and put her hands into fists. She was ready to beat the intruder senseless. The intruder switched on the light. It was Clark.

She walked over and shoved him. "You stupid jerk! Were you trying to scare the living daylights out of me?"

"I want to know why you were out so late?"

"Give me a break! I asked you to take my clothes home not spend the night waiting up for me like you're my mother."

"Did you go back to his place?"

"That's none of your business, Clark. How dare you accuse all my boyfriends of being no good and you haven't even met this one. He is the most boring gentleman on the face of the planet and Chloe's date is an 18-year-old with all the innocence of a little boy. You'd have more to worry about if our dates were Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street."

"Then where were you all this time?"

"That's it, Clark! I've had it. You tell me and everyone else we know that you hate my guts and can't stand to be around me. So try and stay the heck away from me!

Clark was stunned. "Fine!" he said and he turned to leave.

"Give me back my key, you idiot!"

He threw down the key and stormed away. Lois could've sworn she'd seen a tear.

She felt bad. She hadn't meant to hurt his feelings. She's gone too far this time but he was such a confusing person. Their relationship was confusing. Maybe all her crankiness and confusion stemmed from her lack of sleep. There was no point in tracking Smallville down tonight. He could stay hidden if he wanted to. She just didn't have the energy to think or even make it to her bed, so she fell asleep on the couch.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

The ringing phone wouldn't go away , so at last Lois opened her eyes and answered it. 

"What do you want?" Lois asked in a sleepy, grumpy voice.

"It's 11:00 a.m., Lois. We have to get started on that story, unless you've changed your mind?" Chloe asked.

"No, I have the day off and I'm coming."

"What did you do to Clark?"

"Nothing."

"I invited him to help us and he said not if you were going to be there."

"I think I hurt his feelings last night but he should be apologizing to me. I'll call him after I get off the phone and make him come. Where are we meeting?"

"At the Daily Planet. Richard and Jimmy are going to be there too."

"Oh, joy. Well, I better get a move on. Bye, Chlo."

"Bye."

Lois dialed the Kents and Martha answered.

"Hey, Mrs. Kent. I thought you were working today."

"I'm getting ready to head out now. I hope you're taking it easy."

"Yeah. Is Clark there?"

"Hold on…He says to tell you he isn't here."

Lois had to restrain her laughter, when Clark got on the phone.

"What do you want, Lois?" Clark asked.

"Smallville, you're too moody."

"If you called me to insult me, I'm going to hang up."

"Relax. I called to say I didn't mean the things I said last night. I do kind of like you hanging around."

"Did Chloe put you up to this?"

"No, I would've called you last night but I was too tired."

"So you're apologizing?"

"Do I have to spell it out for you?"

"Okay. I'm sorry too. We should both try to be nicer to each other."

"So are you coming to the Daily Planet?"

"Yes. See you in a little bit."

"Bye, Smallville"  
---

Lois and Clark were standing around Chloe's desk and wondering where she had gone. At last, Chloe came and took them to the storage room.

"And why exactly are we going into the storage room?" asked Lois.

"We need privacy. 5 people at my desk are bound to draw some attention," replied Chloe.

Richard and Jimmy were there too. They all walked into the musty smelling room. Chloe had brought in a folding table but all 5 chairs were squeezed onto one side. She had also brought in 2 laptops and paper and pencils for everybody. Chloe turned on the single light bulb and everybody went to grab a chair. Lois got to the table first and grabbed the center chair. Chloe got the one on the right beside Lois. Richard and Clark made a dash for the other chair beside Lois. It was an unfair contest. Clark got to the chair first. Clark had gotten the one on Clark's other side, so that left Richard sitting on the other side of Chloe. (I felt loved). Lois was oblivious to the whole thing and had been doodling on her paper. When everybody took a seat, Lois looked up.

"What's the game plan, Chloe?" she asked.

The first step to any story is research," Chloe said.

"And the most boring. Shouldn't some little peon be doing that kind of stuff?"

"When you're an intern, you are the peon. You have to be an official reporter to really use people in research and even then you still have to do a little yourself. It comes with the territory and I like researching. It's my favorite part,"

"Well, there's a laptop in front of you and one in front of Clark. You two go to town and enjoy your research," and Lois laid back in her chair. She took her pencil and held it like a cigarette. She was thinking about something and subconsciously taking the pencil in and out of her mouth like a cigarette.

Richard said to her, "you're a smoker, aren't you?"

"I was a smoker. Emphasis on the was."

"I think you should see a therapist about it. Whenever you become bored or emotionally stressed, that drive to smoke will resurface."

"What would a therapist do, you idiot, unless he prescribes me nicotine. I have been smoke free for quite some time. If I did decide to pick up smoking again, I would do it away from other people and you would be the last to know," she further made her point by taking her pencil and pretending to smoke it. She blew the imaginary smoke in Richard's direction.

After a while, Lois broke the silence with, "you know what I just realized. I'm in a room full of Daily Planet fanatics. Chloe and Jimmy work here and Richard and Clark might want to work here some day."

"You would never want to work here?" Chloe asked her.

"No, I have no talent for this and I don't like the current editor."

"Then you're in luck," Richard said, "because I think you are very talented and she's retiring. My uncle has done been told he's going to replace her. I can put in a good word for you."

"Richard, did anyone ever tell you that you're a suck-up? I wouldn't waste your energy sucking up to your uncle when you're ready for a job. Nepotism is alive and well."

Clark smiled. He wasn't the target of her barbed humor for once. He could also tell that there was no added affection from her part like what she had with him. It made Clark happy.

(Lois and Clark are back from their walk and skim over all the work I've done since they've been gone. Lois pats me on the back and says she's going to go check and see if Brian is up from his nap yet. Clark tells her not to worry that he's still asleep and even if he were up, their 5-year-old grandson is well behaved. Lois smirks and says Jason was a well-behaved 5-year-old but she wouldn't have trusted him by himself for any length of time. She goes off to perform her grandmotherly job, necessary or not. Clark goes back to his book.)

Lois wasn't being very patient during the research. She's ready for action. She asks Chloe, "what have you accomplished?"

"Not a lot. I keep trying to find the company's records but there are none. If we don't know who was in charge of this company or where the teddy bears were shipped, it's hopeless."

"Not necessarily. The kids would be affected with some weird power, wouldn't they?" Lois said, "so why don't we check out the home of the meteor freaks? Bell Reeve. It's a long shot but some effected children might be there."

Chloe tried hacking in to the mental institution.

Jimmy looked at Lois with admiration and said, "Miss Lane, you're brilliant."

Lois was taken off guard and that rarely happened. She wasn't used to people paying her a lot of compliments. Particularly where her IQ was concerned. She didn't necessarily tear herself down but neither did she build herself up. Jimmy was a welcome change in her life because he looked up to her. He looked up to Clark too. He still does, in fact. It was good for the both of them but especially Lois. She needs that every now and then.

Bell Reeve had updated their system, making it close to impossible to hack into. The 5 of them decided they should just head for the institute.

(Lois is back. I tell her that she's brilliant and Clark seconds it. She asked what that was for and I tell her that sometimes people forget to state the obvious. She looks pleased.)

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Richard and Jimmy were waiting at the Planet while Chloe, Lois, and Clark went in to Bell Reeve. Chloe and Lois fought with the lady at the reception desk about seeing patient files but it was really just a distraction for Clark. About 5 minutes later, Clark snuck back out and nodded. The 3 of them went back to the car. 

"What did you find out, Smallville?" Lois asked.

"Nothing. Well, what I mean is it was a hoax."

"What was a hoax?"

"That guy at the warehouse was an actor. Bell Reeve was trying to get a reporter from the Daily Planet to invade this place, so they could file a law suit to gain some extra cash without obviously setting them up. Luckily, we haven't really done anything."

"I should've known," Lois said, "teddy bears and pink and blue rocks. How silly can it get? It was a complete waste of time but I'm sure you'll get better stories, Chloe."

"Not really," Chloe said.

"What do you mean?" Lois asked.

"This was my last story as an official reporter. You were right. I like researching a lot more than the actual investigation. I'm leaving the Daily Planet."

"Because of me? Chloe—"

"Not because of you. I've been thinking about it for awhile. I got a job offer at Wayne Tech in Gotham City. I'm going to work in research and I'll get paid a lot more."

"What about writing? You love writing," Lois said still trying to make sense of it.

"I'm going to write books. There's going to be an opening for an internship at the DP with me gone."

"I kind of figured that," Lois shot back.

"I want you to take it. I've already talked to Perry about it. I showed him the articles you wrote in high school and all the work you've done on my stories here. If it hadn't been for you and Clark, I think I'd still be writing obituaries. You guys are the real investigative reporters. Don't get me wrong. I'm not demeaning myself. I'm the computer genius, who finds all the information. I know you're sick and tired of dealing with corrupted politicians and I see the excitement and energy you get from working on a story with me. Please take it. For your little cousin's sake," she said with a puppy dog face.

"You are something else," Lois laughed. "I'll take the job, as soon as Mrs. Kent can find a good replacement."

(This ends this chapter. My next chapter will deal with me moving to Gotham City, where I met and married the love of my life. I'll give you a little epilogue of the people in this chapter, since most of them are getting ready to veer off from my life story. Jimmy Olsen became a world renowned photographer, found a sweet little wife, and has 2 kids and a dog. Richard did indeed get a job at the Planet. My cousin grew to tolerate him and they had an interesting relationship that I'm not going to attempt to describe. Eventually though he left and took a job as an editor of some small town paper. We all lost track of him after that. I think any reader knows what happened to Lois Lane and Clark Kent. I wish I could do biographies of them. They would make an interesting read but they both humbly refuse. Lois smirks at the biography thing. I tease her and tell her that I've already written the first 3 chapters of her biography. Lois doesn't think it's funny and let's out a string of cuss words that would make a sailor blush. Unfortunately, their grandson picked now to wake up and come in. He thinks it was fortunate though. He smiles and tells her to go put money in the swear jar. Lois does. I laugh at him and his cousin, Mary Beth. They both try to get their grandma cussing, so the money will add up because that means a trip to the amusement park. It's really quite funny to watch. Lois is a good grandma. She tried to set a good example or she wouldn't have a swear jar. Lois doesn't have a lot of loose change though. I'm getting ready to quit typing. I'm finished with Lois and Clark. I have to go home and it's going to be a long flight. Lois smiles when she reads this and says her way of flying is much faster and more enjoyable. I disagree. Her way of flying makes me airsick. An enclosed luxury plane is much better. It's 4:35 p.m. but it's not like I'm going to miss my flight. It's Wayne jets. I go when I please. I own them or co-own them I guess I should say. I tell them that the next time I write them into my book, we're doing it at my house. They laugh and agree.)

The End


End file.
